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Scripture Reading: S. S. 1:2-4, 13-14; 2:3-4, 8-10, 16-17; 3:1-4
We have seen that to believe in the Lord is to receive Him, and that to love Him is to enjoy what we have received. So many Christians have believed in the Lord and received the Lord, but not many enjoy the Lord by loving Him.
In John 14:21 and 23, the Lord said that when we love Him, He will manifest Himself to us. This is a personal matter. Then He said that He and His Father will come to us and make an abode with us. This really means a mutual abode. He will be our abode, and we will be His abode. It is a mutual abiding involving persons. A person comes to make His abode with us; hence, we must take the Lord as a person. This abounding grace is not only in faith but also in love.
When Saul of Tarsus was persecuting the Lord, the Lord came to him as a great light, and he was smitten to the earth. Then Saul called, “O Lord, who are You?” And the Lord answered that He was Jesus, the One whom Saul was persecuting. But just by that calling, “O Lord,” Jesus came into His persecutor and turned him into one who loved Him.
This is really grace. It is grace that causes us not only to believe in Jesus but also to love Him. For this reason, Paul says that the grace of the Lord superabounds with faith and love (1 Tim. 1:14).
Then Paul says in Galatians 2:20, “...who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” Paul is saying that since Christ loved him, he must love Christ. His love constrained Paul to love Jesus. In this way Paul took the Lord Jesus as his life.
There is much talk today about Christ as life, but not many Christians really know how to enjoy the Lord as life. It is not a matter of knowing but a matter of enjoying. Yes, Christ is our life, but how can we enjoy Him as our life? There is no other way except by loving Him. This life is not a doctrine; this life is a person. If we would enjoy Him as our life, we must take Him as our person. The One who is our life is a living person! Therefore, we must love this person.
To love a person is wonderful, but it also causes problems. I have been loving this particular Bible since 1964. For the past eight years, I have never had any problem with it, because it is not a person. There is no problem to love something that is lifeless. But when you love a person, there are always problems. All of us who are husbands do love our wives, yet loving our wives oftentimes causes problems. And the more we love them, the more problems we have. This Bible has never given me any problem because it has no personality, but the more the wives and husbands love each other, the more trouble they have.
Generally speaking, you never hate a person whom you have never loved. Loving a person really involves something. The more you love, the more problems you will have. You will never hate a stranger walking on the street; it is always those with whom you have close contact, such as your roommate or your marriage mate. First we love them, but then our love issues in problems. I have never met a husband who had no problems with his wife, and I have never met a wife who had no problems with her husband. It is because they love one another as a person. If we did not have love, there would be no problem; but because the one we love is a person, there are problems. Because I am a person, I cause problems for my wife and for those with whom I am closely associated. While we work together and love one another, we experience some problems.
The stronger a person is, the more problems he will give you if you love him — and Jesus is the strongest person. A Bible does not cause problems because it has no personality; it is not a person. Some persons are weak; with such weak persons there are hardly any problems. The husbands have problems with their dear wives because their wives are so strong. It is even worse for the wives, because their husbands are stronger than they are. We all must realize, however, that Jesus is the strongest One. Do you think you could subdue Him? You cannot subdue Him; instead, you will be subdued! On the one hand, He is so tender, kind, and humble, but on the other hand, He is never weak. Many wonderful words can be used to describe His personality, but weakness is not one of them. He is always strong, and He is stronger than we are.
Then what shall we do? Though we say that we love Jesus, and we really mean it, we have a real problem: we are loving the strongest person with the strongest personality. Suppose I am very strong, yet someone says that he loves me. His love for me will cause him problems. My strong character and personality will cause him to suffer. After three days, he will forget his love for me. Our love for a Bible will never present any problem, but our love for a person will give us many problems. Moreover, the stronger the person is, the more problems we will have.
This is why we want to see something from the Song of Songs. Many of us, after reading the above verses, will think that this is a wonderful book about loving Jesus. Yes, it is indeed a wonderful book. But many times the record in this book is not so exciting; instead, it is rather disappointing. All the above verses have some exciting points, but the main point in quoting all these verses is not to show us the exciting points but the disappointing ones.
“Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! / For your love is better than wine. / Your anointing oils have a pleasant fragrance; / Your name is like ointment poured forth; / Therefore the virgins love you. / Draw me; we will run after you — / The king has brought me into his chambers — / We will be glad and rejoice in you; / We will extol your love more than wine. / Rightly do they love you” (1:2-4).
Here is one who has begun to seek after the Lord. Surely, before the seeking, there was the attracting. Since the Lord has attracted this one to Himself, she is seeking after Him. So she says, “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!” She must have received a revelation of the Lord’s beauty. Our love does not depend so much upon our ability to love the Lord as it depends upon His loveliness. If something is ugly and dirty, we cannot love it. But something so sweet and precious can attract us, even if we have no intention of loving it. Therefore, it is not a matter of our being able to love the Lord but a matter of His being altogether lovely! We cannot love the Lord without seeing His beauty. But once we see His beauty, we cannot help loving Him. He is the most attractive and attracting One. No one can resist the Lord’s beauty. When we are attracted to Him, we have to say with this seeking one, “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!”
After the seeking comes the finding. This one found the one whom she was seeking. The king brought her into his chambers. So in these three verses there are the seeking and the finding.
Then in verses 13 and 14 is the appreciation. “My beloved is to me a bundle of myrrh... / My beloved is to me a cluster of henna flowers / In the vineyards of En-gedi.” How she appreciates the Lord! He is just like a bundle of myrrh, so sweet inside; and outside He is like a cluster of henna flowers, an Old-World plant with which Jewish girls beautified themselves. She simply appreciates His sweetness and His beauty.
Following the appreciation is the enjoyment: “As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, / So is my beloved among the sons: / In his shade I delighted and sat down, / And his fruit was sweet to my taste. / He brought me into the banqueting house, / And his banner over me was love” (2:3-4). Now her beloved is not only like a bundle of myrrh and a cluster of henna flowers, but he is also like an apple tree with sweet and rich fruit. She is sitting under his shadow enjoying the rest, and she is feeding on his sweet fruit for satisfaction. She is really in the enjoyment.
Do you see the progression in this chapter? It begins with seeking and continues with finding. After finding comes appreciation. Following appreciation is rich enjoyment. It is really wonderful! And the enjoyment is to the fullest, because she not only enjoys him under the apple tree with all the fruits, but she is also brought into the banqueting house, and his banner over her is love. This is enjoyment to the uttermost.
But suddenly there is another picture. “The voice of my beloved! Now he comes, / Leaping upon the mountains, / Skipping upon the hills. / My beloved is like a gazelle or a young hart. / Now he stands behind our wall; / He is looking through the windows, / He is glancing through the lattice” (vv. 8-9). The picture has changed. Now her beloved is leaping upon the mountains and skipping upon the hills. You may think this is wonderful, but if you were the seeking one, you would say, “I am here resting, and he is there jumping and skipping. While I am resting, he is leaping upon the mountains and skipping upon the hills. How different he is from me.”
A short while before, he was with her in the banqueting house; now, she is still in the house while he is outside the wall. A wall is separating them; he is behind the wall. This portrays some separation between the seeking one and the Lord. In the banqueting house they were one. But now she is within the wall, and he is outside the wall; she is resting, and he is jumping, leaping, and skipping.
So you see, it is possible that while we are loving Jesus, He is away from us. He may not be far away, but there is a separation, a wall between Him and us. He was with us in the banqueting house, but now there is a wall between us. It was so wonderful to be in the banqueting house, but now while we are still inside, He is outside. We are still resting and enjoying, but He is leaping and skipping. We have our character, and He has His. While we have our resting personality, He has His skipping personality.
But praise the Lord that walls nearly always have some openings. He can still see the seeking one by looking through the window. Praise the Lord for the window; but there is a lattice. He can see through, but He cannot get in. This is really meaningful. The Song of Songs is poetry, and a picture is portrayed here. There is a wall with a window, but the window has a lattice. Many times our experiences with the Lord have been just like this. While we were so much in love with Him, He was not with us. He was outside the wall. We were within, and He was without. But an opening was there for Him to see us and for us to see Him. However, He could not get in, and we could not get out because of the lattice.
Many times in our experiences with the Lord, something like this will happen. We are separated, but we can still see through. Yet we cannot get through, and the Lord cannot get through either. But the seeking one did hear His voice. She said, “The voice of my beloved!” She heard His voice, and He seemed to be saying, “Rise up; don’t rest anymore. Come out of the house; don’t remain in your situation.”
This is the real test. We say that we love the Lord, but we love Him in our way. We love Him according to our taste, our intention, and our goal. We do not love Him according to His way, His taste, His intention, or His goal. Our intention is just to enjoy rest and satisfaction, but suddenly Jesus is away. We are satisfied, but He is away. So many dear ones become excited when they come to the local church and touch the Lord’s love. But then, after a time, they ask, “What happened?” It seems that the happiness is gone. At first they were so happy — they were even in the heavens — but now the happiness is gone. This is the test. We love Him, but it seems that He is away. We love Him, but we do not have His presence. This is because we have loved Him for our goal and for our intention. He is the Lord. He is the King. His intention is the intention. His goal is the goal. If we love Him, we must do so according to His intention and for His goal. This is why He says, “Rise up, my love, / My beauty, and come away.” This is to call us away from our situation.
Do you see the discrepancy between the Lord and the seeking one? She intends to have rest and stay at home, but the Lord intends that she rise up and go away. The controversy between the two parties is caused by two different personalities. She is a person, and He is also a person. Yet He is a stronger person, and He asks her to rise up and come away. Then she answers, “My beloved is mine, and I am his; / He pastures his flock among the lilies. / Until the day dawns and the shadows flee away, / Turn, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young hart / On the mountains of Bether” (vv. 16-17).
The Lord calls her to come away, but she does not care for His calling. She says, “My beloved is mine. He is for me. I just enjoy Him.” He asks her to rise up, but she says that He is for her enjoyment and satisfaction. He is the shepherd among the lilies, and she is one of the little lilies under His shepherding. She does not care at all for the Lord’s call. She only cares for her enjoyment. She realizes that she is the Lord’s, so she says that He is hers and she is His. She was enjoying the Lord’s shepherding, the Lord’s satisfaction, and the Lord’s rest. The picture portrays that she cares only for her own satisfaction. She does not care for the Lord’s will, intention, or goal.
But that is not all that she says to the Lord. She also says, “Until the day dawns and the shadows flee away, / Turn, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young hart / On the mountains of Bether.” This means that she is not ready or willing to go out with the Lord. So she tells the Lord to wait until the shadows flee away. She realizes that some kind of shadow, some kind of darkness, is between her and the Lord. So she tells the Lord to wait for some time, and then to turn back at the mountains of Bether. The word Bether means “separation.”
Then, in the following chapter the Lord disappears. “On my bed night after night / I sought him whom my soul loves; / I sought him, but found him not. / I will rise now and go about in the city; / In the streets and in the squares / I will seek him whom my soul loves. / I sought him, but found him not. / The watchmen who go about in the city found me — / Have you seen him whom my soul loves? / Scarcely had I passed them / When I found him whom my soul loves; / I held him and would not let go” (3:1-4).
The seeking one seeks the Lord, but she cannot find Him. Finally, she is forced to rise up and go after the Lord. Even though she says that she is not ready and that the Lord must wait until the shadows flee away, the Lord will not go along with her. So He disappears, forcing her to fulfill His call to rise up and go away from her home. She goes into the street and does her best to find her Beloved, but she cannot find Him. Then suddenly, the Lord is there again.
Do you see the picture? It is right that we should love the Lord, but we should not do it according to our way and our intention. Our will must be subdued to His will. Simply to love Him is not enough. Loving Him will cause many problems. Therefore, we need the subduing of our will. The person whom we love is the strongest One. He will never be subdued, and He can never be subdued. Therefore, we are the ones who must be subdued.
The Lord did not appear to her according to her way or her intention. It was when she was disappointed that He suddenly appeared. But when she found the Lord, she held Him and would not let Him go. This shows her strong character. She was still so strong to hold the Lord according to her way. This whole picture shows us one who has never been subdued. Yes, we love the Lord, yet we have never been subdued. To love the Lord is wonderful, but it also causes problems. The problems are solved only by our being subdued. We must be subdued and conformed to His personality, His will, His intention, and His goal. Otherwise, we will constantly have a controversy with the Lord.
The main problem with husbands and wives in their marriage life is the controversy between them. The wives love their husbands, but they love them according to their own way. The husbands have their way, and the wives have theirs. The wives’ will would never be subdued to the husbands’ will, so there are problems. This is why in a wedding the bride always has her head covered to show that she must be subdued.
There is no other way for us to take Christ as life except by loving Him as a person. And if we would love Him as a person, we must be subdued. This is the unique problem between Him and us. There is hardly another problem. The problem is that we are not willing to be subdued, and the Lord Jesus will never be subdued by us. He is humble, kind, and tender, but He will never be subdued. He is the Lord; He is the King; He is the Head. We need to be subdued. This is why I say that all these exciting verses eventually reveal something that is quite disappointing.
Here is a person who loves the Lord, yet a controversy exists between her and the One she loves. Do you think that holding the Lord in such a strong way is good or bad? On the one hand, it is good, because she is holding the Lord. But on the other hand, it is not so good, because she is too strong! The Lord would say, “Please give Me the liberty. Release Me. Don’t hold Me so strongly.” But because of her strong personality, she holds the Lord very strongly and tells Him that she will never let Him go.
We love the Lord, but we have a stubborn will and a strong character, which are a real problem to the Lord. We seek the Lord, but we seek Him for our own will and for our own good. This is why in the Song of Songs the Lord must teach His seeking one some lessons. If we read this book carefully, we will see that at the end of the book she is so soft and submissive. Her character and personality are hardly noticeable. What she has is the Lord’s character and the Lord’s personality. Now she is really one with the Lord. There are two persons but only one personality.
After we are attracted by the Lord’s beauty to love Him, we must learn one unique lesson — to be subdued. To take Christ, the living person, as our life requires us to be subdued.
Simply to love Jesus is not enough. The Lord’s intention is that we take Him and experience Him as our life. There is no other way except to love Him and be subdued by Him. Then we will be one with Him, having one personality. We will be so soft and submissive to Him. In this picture, the lover of Jesus is exceedingly strong at the beginning, with such a stubborn character. Yet at the end, she is so soft and submissive. This is the lesson that we all must learn in order to really experience Christ as our life.
